Eurocare Press Release: NGOS RESIGN FROM HEALTH FORUM AS COMMISSION IGNORES MEMBER STATE AND EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR ALCOHOL STRATEGY

Public Health NGOs have today resigned from the EU Alcohol and Health Forum, following the announcement by Commissioner Andriukaitis that he has no plans to establish a new EU Alcohol Strategy[1]. The Commissioner’s decision goes against demands from Member States and the European Parliament for a new comprehensive Strategy to tackle alcohol harm in Europe.

Membership of the Forum, which is chaired by DG Sante, includes drinks industry representatives and public health NGOs. More than 20 health bodies, including Eurocare (European Alcohol Policy Alliance), EPHA (European Public Health Alliance) and the CPME (Standing Committee of European Doctors) today tendered their collective resignation in an open letter to Commissioner Andriukaitis.

Signatories to the letter outline their “deep concerns” about the neglect of public health and the prioritisation of alcohol industry interests. These include:

· The Commission is ignoring calls from the European Parliament and Member States to develop a new EU Alcohol Strategy

· The Commission plans to include alcohol within a wider framework for tackling chronic disease, which would fail to address many harms caused by alcohol to those other than the drinker, such as drink driving, domestic abuse and child sexual exploitation

· There is no evidence to show that the EU Alcohol and Health Forum has had any impact on public health

· The Forum was established to support the implementation of the previous EU Alcohol Strategy, which ended in 2012. With no new Strategy planned, membership of the Forum cannot be justified.

Signatories also expressed disappointment that the Commissioner had rejected requests for public health experts to have a formal structure to meet with Commission officials to discuss alcohol policy, free from vested interest groups.

Mariann Skar, Secretary General of Eurocare, said: “The Commissioner himself stated drinking behaviours in Europe are good for the Alcohol Industry but not good for Health. Eurocare represents 58 organisations in 25 countries and we deeply regret the Commission’s decision not to establish a new EU Alcohol Strategy. This flies in the face of persistent demands from Member States, the European Parliament and NGOs. The EU is the heaviest drinking region in the world and with 120,000 premature deaths related to alcohol each year, we absolutely must have a comprehensive strategy to tackle alcohol harm.”

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the EU Alcohol and Health Forum’s Science Group said, “This is a sad day for those who care about health in Europe. The Commission’s prioritisation of alcohol industry interests over public health has been laid bare. Many NGOs have participated actively and in good faith in the EU Alcohol and Health Forum, in the hope of making progress and reducing alcohol harm. However, with no evidence to indicate the Forum has achieved any meaningful results, and no promise of a new Alcohol Strategy, we see no alternative to walking away from this failing organization.”

Nina Renshaw, Secretary General of EPHA, said, „The alcohol industry must have raised a few glasses to DG SANTE after their admission at the last Forum meeting that they don’t even aim to improve health. The Commission has finally admitted what the health community has long suspected – that they have abandoned alcohol policy altogether. The Forum has proved worse than useless, a free PR front for the industry. The Commission even endorses the industry introducing drinking culture to young kids by promoting „responsible“ drinking in primary schools. The health community had to call time on this charade.“

Yesterday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched its report “Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use”, a report assessing alcohol policy scenarios. The report has been developed over the last years and the European Alcohol Policy Alliance (Eurocare) welcomes the report and its strong recommendations for governments to implement evidence based and cost-effective alcohol policies.

Mariann Skar, Secretary General of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance, says: “Today OECD has presented a strong message to European Governments, the European Commission and the public health community. Even the most expensive interventions like health care and work place interventions are cost-effective and will give both an economic and health benefit when implemented. Most alcohol policies are not expensive to implement and leads to great health and economic benefits. Furthermore, the report shows the importance of addressing broad policy approaches such as price and marketing in addition to policies addressing only the ones who drink most”.

OECD launched its report yesterday at 11 am at OECD in Paris and at the Royal Statistical Society in London. The report and OECD press releases can be found here.

The report comes in a time of great discussions on alcohol policies in the European Union. In April 2015, the European Health Ministers agreed on the need for common EU Alcohol Policies and addressed the need for more developments from the European Commission. Later the same month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a new EU Alcohol Strategy. These calls both respond to the lack of new initiatives from the European Commission, after the previous EU Alcohol Strategy which technically expired in 2012. The OECD report gives important knowledge to the discussion and policy recommendations to the Member States and the European Commission in their upcoming initiatives addressing alcohol related harm.
(Source: Eurocare)

29 April, Brussels– Today, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a Resolution calling on the European Commission to present a new EU Alcohol Strategy to tackle health harm for 2016-2022. The clear message from MEPs comes just a week after EU Health Ministers meeting in Riga called on the Commission (1) to take action on the health impacts of alcohol. Both MEPs and Ministers have criticized the Commission for failing to update the previous EU Alcohol Strategy which expired in 2012.

– NCDA Global Platform faces opposition from COI coalition
– One in eight deaths in Europe between the ages of 15 and 64 “is caused by alcohol”
– German medical students not taught about alcohol problems
– Leading alcohol beverage producers agree to extend common marketing standards and reinforce selfregulation across the EU
– Study on the affordability of alcoholic beverages in the EU
– Irish Republic and Northern Ireland come together to hold first All-Island conference on alcohol
– French Breathalyser Law
etc.THE GLOBE, Issue 3 2012

Alcohol ads that violate industry guidelines are more likely to appear in magazines popular with teen readers, a new study finds. Ads violate industry guidelines if they appear to target a primarily underage audience, highlight the high alcohol content of a product, or portray drinking in conjunction with activities that require a high degree of alertness or coordination, such as swimming.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied 1,261 ads for alcopops, beer, spirits or wine that appeared more than 2,500 times in 11 magazines that are popular among teens. The ads were rated according to a number of factors, such as whether they portrayed over-consumption of alcohol, addiction content, sex-related content, or injury content. ….
(Source:Join Together, 08/09/12)

Dr. Dave takes aim at the college party mix of energy drinks and booze that researchers say is fueling binging and casual, high-risk, sex
Underage drinking is a widespread problem, often brought about by a pushback on other drugs.

BILL: “Young drunks invade emergency rooms,” ran a recent headline in our own NY Daily News. “…teenage binge drinking is a key culprit behind the number of ER visits, which have skyrocketed citywide from 7,958 in 2007 to 15,620 in 2011.” Dave, is booze making a comeback against pills, pot, meth and the other newer, and more glamorous forms of dope?

DR. DAVE: Dr. Christopher McStay of Bellevue Hospital’s emergency department seems to reinforce that idea. “I certainly see really young people,” he says, “who drank enormous amounts of alcohol and have bad withdrawal.” I’m afraid we’re seeing the effect of the current war on Oxycontin. As we push hard against a new drug, there’s an up-tick back into binge drinking.

Eurocare on behalf of the Alcohol Policy Youth Network informs: We are very happy to announce the date of the 1st European Alcohol Policy Youth Conference that is going to happen between 8th and 14th November 2012 in Bled, Slovenia. APYN is currently welcoming applications for participation, which will then undergo a selection process.

Thanks to the European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme, food and accommodation costs are 100% covered, while the travel will be 70% refunded. First twenty (20) selected applicants will have no participation fee (50,00 eur).

Deadline for online applications: 20th August 2012.

More information about the conference and the application process can be found on www.apyn.org/conference.
If you have more questions, feel free to contact info@apyn.org.
Feel free to forward this call to all interested youth between 18 and 30 years.

Considerations under European Law and the implications for European public health
Scotland has amongst the highest rates of alcohol-related harms in Western Europe and over the last three decades has observed an approximate 3-fold increase in alcohol-related mortality.1 The Scottish Government has identified the affordability of alcohol as a key component for an effective strategy in addressing these harms. While increases in alcohol duty can be used to reduce affordability, responsibility for determining alcohol duty lies with the UK rather than Scottish Parliament so the introduction of a minimum unit price (MUP) is being considered as a more targeted alternative. Its potential introduction raises a number of important legal considerations that bear relevance to future public health legislative measures across the European Union. In this article, we outline some of the main considerations as illustrated by the case study of MUP in Scotland and discuss the implications for countries across Europe and other areas of public health policy. …
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/27/12) eurpub.oxfordjournals.org, August 2012 (payable) Eur J Public Health (2012) 22 (4): 457-458. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cks091